The one about Halloween
by FivebyFive89
Summary: Where Sara discovers it's Halloween, Suvi has a weird dream, and Liam scares everyone with his horror vid collection. A casual one shot with all of the Tempest crew, meant to be fun and silly (and a teeny bit spooky)


**A/N: I don't know why I wrote this, but I did anyway XD It started with a small idea, and then I just decided to let the writing do itself. There was absolutely zero planning involved. I also wrote most of it while home alone watching a creepy documentary on Netflix…. So, here is my Sara, as excited by Halloween as I am.**

 **Set, in my mind, after the game events.**

* * *

The icy winds of Voeld buffeted the Tempest, howling across the hull and rocking the ship on its suspension. State of the art sensors placed at intervals across the streamlined plating, and SAM's own precise calculations, did nothing the soothe the uneasiness the extreme weather caused Suvi. The reinforced landing struts and shielded hull of the ship were more than enough to protect from the blizzard, and the colonists in the nearby outpost buildings probably had it worse, but the wind made it sound like an army of krogan were jumping up and down across the back of the ship and it was unnerving.

However, Sara seemed excited. About what, Suvi had no idea. She had spent the last hour scurrying in and out of her room while Suvi attempted to concentrate on the report on her datapad. She was tucked up in bed in the Pathfinder's Quarters, nice and warm despite the well-below-freezing temperatures outside. She shifted onto her side, propping herself up on one elbow and leaving her datapad down on the bed beside herself as she reached over to the nightstand next to the bed for her mug of tea. Earth tea. She dreaded the day it ran out… For now, she could enjoy the fragrant comfort, though.

The heavy door panel across the room hissed faintly as it slid open and Sara bounded in with a silly grin on her face. Her long hair was loose and she wore a baggy Andromeda Initiative white hoody and thin grey sweatpants. Suvi still couldn't quite believe the Pathfinder had been rushing around her ship in her sleepwear, and yet, here she was, back again from another mysterious adventure somewhere inside Tempest.

"And are we finally ready for bed?" She teased Sara over the rim of her steaming mug.

"Yes, ma'am!" Sara said, hitting the manual lock on the door and then zipping across the room to jump onto the bed beside Suvi, who only just managed to save her tea. "Whoops, sorry," Sara planted a hasty kiss against the side of Suvi's head as she wriggled beneath the covers of the bed. She settled down on her side and peered over at the still-glowing datapad beside Suvi. "Watcha reading?"

"Report on minerals below the planet's surface," she answered, sipping at her tea and then putting the mug back on the nightstand, out of the way of fidgety Saras. "What have you been up to…?" She asked, eyeing Sara curiously. "You keep disappearing…"

"Did you miss me?" Sara asked playfully, earning herself an eyeroll in response. Sara gave a wide grin before excitedly announcing, "SAM calculated that tomorrow is Halloween!"

"And why would he calculate that?" Suvi asked, raising one eyebrow and already knowing the answer.

"Because I asked him to," Sara said with a devilish grin. Suvi looked at her without speaking for a second, then promptly squealed and tried to roll away as Sara pounced on her with a growl and began nipping at her neck.

"Sara, no!" She giggled.

"I vant to suck your blood!"

"Oh my God, Sara, go to sleep, you doofus!" Suvi laughed, succeeding in pushing her away. "And that wasn't an answer."

"All will be revealed," Sara said mysteriously, folding one arm beneath her head as she settled down to sleep and giving Suvi her most cheeky grin.

"You have a plan…" Suvi stated. A slow smirk spread across Sara's face and Suvi realised she would just have to wait and see what mischief Sara was up to. She scooted closer to cuddle against her Pathfinder. "We can watch some scary vids or something tomorrow."

"Count on it," Sara said with another smirk that went unseen.

* * *

 _Suvi was sunbathing on Eos with Cora._

 _She could feel the rough fabric of Initiative-issued towels beneath her fingers and mirrored sunglasses protected her eyes from the blinding glare coming off the surface of the nearby lake._

" _As an asari huntress," Cora began, and Suvi turned her head sideways, eyes narrowed in irritation as there could be no possible way the end of that sentence made sense here, to find that Cora had painted herself blue._

" _Um…" Suvi raised herself up onto her elbows and pushed up the sunglasses onto the top of her head with one finger. Nope, Cora was definitely blue. Sky blue. All over. Probably even beneath the T-shirt and shorts she wore too._

" _Yes?" Cora watched her expectantly, and Suvi hesitated, wondering if she should comment on the new look._

" _Nothing," she said eventually, letting the sunglasses drop back to the bridge of her nose. She sat up and dusted sand from her palms. She was wearing her uniform and it felt uncomfortably hot beneath the scorching midday sun. Sweat trickled down the back of her neck, below her collar._

 _Beside her, Cora sighed reluctantly and sat up too._

" _We should go," she said. "We're meant to be back at the Tempest by dawn."_

 _Suvi glanced across the lake towards Prodromos where she could see the sleek form of their ship waiting beyond the buildings, distorted by heat shimmer. It was only a short walk around the lake, a matter of minutes at most._

" _It's fine," she told Cora, looking sideways at her. "We have hours."_

" _Do we?" Cora asked, and Suvi turned back to face the ship, feeling her stomach jolt as she realized it was now the dead of night. Lights twinkled in the windows of the outpost buildings, reflected in the glassy surface of the lake. The sky was a deep blue, cloudless, and the bright moon was already beginning its downward arc behind the soaring cliffs._

" _Oh, Lord!" Suvi gasped and leaped up, staring up at the sky in confusion._

" _You go on ahead," Cora told her, climbing leisurely to her feet and dusting herself off, "I'll catch up with you."_

 _The sun was still at least a couple of hours from rising, but Suvi knew she had to get back as soon as possible and so she sprinted full tilt around the edge of the lake. But no matter how fast she ran the Tempest stubbornly refused to move closer to her. She paused to catch her breath and glanced over her shoulder, expecting to see Cora still stood with their towels on the lakes shore, but to her surprise Cora had vanished. She could see the spot they had occupied in the distance, so she had travelled, but Prodromos seemed to stretch away from her, out of reach._

" _Hello, Suvi," Jaal spoke from just behind her. She turned to face him and yelped in shock as she realized he was buck naked, holding a breast plate casually in front of his crotch._

" _Jaal! What are you-"_

" _Armour swap," Liam announced making his way over. Suvi could see he was bare-chested, and kept her eyes firmly on his, suspecting he was in a similar state of undress to Jaal._

" _Oh?" She squeaked, face feeling hot and definitely glowing like a beacon in the darkness._

" _Yep," Liam said. "Drack's roped us into hunting karkins. Can you help?" He gave her a hopeful smile._

" _I can't," Suvi told him, "I have to get back…" She turned to point towards the Tempest, only to find she was now standing right in front of the ship._

" _Oh, right, yeah," Liam nodded vigorously. "Can't keep Sara waiting!"_

" _We should go," Jaal told Liam._

" _Yup. Karkins," he grinned at Suvi and waved goodbye. She turned away from them as they began to jog away and looked up the landing ramp to the open bay doors of the ship. Protocol stated that the doors should remain closed at all times unless crew were on the ramp. She would have to talk to Kallo about that._

 _She started up the ramp, a sense of dread settling like lead in the pit of her stomach and growing with each step she took. It was dark and silent inside, feeling more like a crypt than the exciting place she had come to call home. The lights were on low, leaving deep shadows in the corners of the cargo bay. The Nomad loomed out of the darkness before her like some crouching beast. She shivered, feeling artificially cooled air ghost against her cheek. After the heat of the desert it felt almost arctic. She heard the bay doors close behind her with a hiss of hydraulics and a dull thud as the locks engaged._

" _ **Welcome back, Dr Anwar**_ _," SAM said, his robotic voice soft and soothing. "_ _ **Please proceed directly to Pathfinder Quarters**_ _."_

" _Yes, SAM," she muttered, forcing herself to move through the dark cargo bay towards the closed doors that lead further into the ship. She knew what she had to do._

 _The Pathfinder Quarters was at the end of a long corridor at the head of the ship. Suvi didn't quite remember it being this long though._

" _ **Go on, then**_ _," SAM encouraged, and she realised she had faltered just in front of the corridor. It stretched on and on, badly lit by small white lights set into the wall panels close to the ceiling. The walls seemed to close in around her as she walked. Midway down the corridor one of the insubstantial lights was sputtering, emitting soft electrical buzzing noises as it failed and burst back into life, only to fail again._

" _Check the electrics, SAM," Suvi said as she determinedly placed one foot in front of the other, eyes on the pale grey doorway that loomed at the other end. Her destination was lit from above by a brightly glowing strip light. It was like a spotlight amongst the dim illumination of the corridor._

" _ **There is nothing wrong with the ships electrics**_ _," SAM replied. "_ _ **What you are witnessing is merely paranormal interference**_ _."_

" _Oh, oka-wait, what?!" Suvi cried, feet coming to a halt._

" _ **It is nothing to worry about. Please continue**_ _," the AI urged her. Suvi hesitated, the feeling of trepidation mounting. Then she sighed and shook her head, cursing herself for being so foolish. The Pathfinder Quarters had never been cause for alarm before, why would now be any different?_

 _She passed the sputtering light without incident, eyes on the door panel that grew larger and larger until finally she moved through the sensors that caused the door to open automatically for her. She moved through the doorway without breaking stride and had taken several steps into the room before she realised something was wrong._

 _Sara's room was dark, save for the two bronze fire bowls set on the floor either side of an open ancient wooden coffin, lined with white silk like something from a horror vid. The black lacquer and silver handles shimmered in the firelight._

 _The wide windows across the room showed Eos outside, softly illuminated by the grey light of approaching dawn._

 _The door closed behind her, and the locks slid into place._

" _You're late."_

 _Suvi gasped and whipped round to face the voice, feeling chills crawl the length of her spine. Two gleaming red eyes appeared in the darkness across the room, and Sara stepped into the firelight with a wide grin. She wore her Pathfinder hoodie and her cargoes, and her hair was tied up in the usual high ponytail. As Suvi watched the burning red died in her eyes and the irises returned to their usual brilliant blue._

" _I've been waiting for you," she said. She was pale. So, so pale. It made the scar that cut her, right eyebrow to right cheekbone, stand out livid against her now-snowy complexion._

" _Oh?" Suvi asked, unable to avert her eyes from the hypnotic pull of Sara's gaze. She wanted simultaneously to flee the room and leap into Sara's arms._

 _Sara nodded, beginning to cross the room, slowly making her way towards Suvi with the graceful movement of a predator. Suvi swallowed, trying to work some moisture into her mouth as her heartrate climbed with anticipation._

" _You know why."_

" _Yes," Suvi mumbled as Sara halted before her and raised a hand to cup Suvi's flushed cheek with an icy palm. "It took me all day to get here." Midday to dawn._

" _There's still time," Sara said softly, threading her cold fingers through fiery locks to the back of Suvi's head and slowly tightening her grip. Suvi obediently arched her neck, watching as the dull red glow rekindled in her lover's eyes, and her canines twisted into sharp fangs._

 _Sara dipped her head. Suvi felt the pressure of those fangs needling into her jugular, but she felt no pain, only a bizarrely pleasant tingling in the base of her skull. She felt her heart pounding in response, fear and excitement merging into one heady mix. She wrapped her arms around Sara, fingers curling into the back of her hoody, felt Sara's hands tighten against her, felt something hot trickling down her neck. Felt fear._

 _She was going to die. Sara was going to kill her. But then she would wake again, reborn. Eternal life with Sara wouldn't be so bad…would it…?_

 _She began to feel numb, the pleasant tingling that had started at the base of skull now filled her head as an insistent buzzing and still Sara drank. The pressure in her neck increased and her left arm began to feel heavy and useless and she couldn't move it and panic really set in now and_ Suvi awoke with a gasp, eyes snapping open wide as she became instantly alert. A persistent pressure in her neck made it ache and she couldn't feel her left arm. She sat bolt upright in alarm, and then realised she had given herself a dead arm by sleeping on it, fist pressed uncomfortably to her neck. She glanced down at Sara's side of the bed while massaging life back into her arm with her working hand, to make sure her foolishness had gone unnoticed. It had, because Sara wasn't there. Her eyes darted around the room in search of the Pathfinder, but Sara had apparently risen earlier and disappeared. Suvi swung her feet out of bed, flexing her left fingers awkwardly as the blood flow returned and feeling came back with an uncomfortable tingling sensation.

And that was when she heard it. A werewolf howl. Low and piercing, muffled by the thick metal door panels. She sat frozen for a moment on the edge of the bed, ears straining. The werewolf howl was followed by screeching metal hinges and a door slamming, then slow, heavy feet on stairs.

"What in the world…?" Suvi breathed, standing and padding on bare feet to the door. She hit the manual lock and the panel slid open. She recoiled in surprise as she saw the corridor outside had undergone some sort of transformation overnight. Cobwebs hung from the walls and a white sheet hung from the ceiling at the far end. The lights flickered and an over-the-top rumble of thunder boomed from the intercom. Closer inspection revealed the cobwebs to be the hollowfibre filling of a pillow, and the sheet had a face drawn on it in black marker, evidently meant to be a ghost.

"I'm still dreaming…" Suvi said dully.

"I don't think so…" Cora said as she slid down the ladder with a squeal of rubber on metal and landed beside her, boots hitting the floor with a thud. Suvi was relieved to see her colleague wasn't blue. "It's like this all over the ship."

The galley door whooshed open and Cora and Suvi glanced over, expecting to see Drack or someone else leaving. When no one came out, but the door remained open, they exchanged a confused look.

"BOO!"

Suvi screamed and leaped backwards, colliding with the ladder behind herself. Cora, however, reacted on instinct and whirled towards the voice, swinging a stunning right hook that had Sara crashing back through the galley door she had just leaped through and landing on her butt.

"Sara!" Suvi cried.

" _What_ is going on?" Lexi demanded, wafting fake cobwebs out of the way as she exited the medbay across the corridor. "Who drew a chalk outline on my floor? It's not a crime scene, it's a hospital!"

Cora sighed and looked down at Sara, who was still sat on the floor and blinking in stunned surprise.

"I think I know…" She said, reaching down to help Sara to her feet. Sara gripped Cora's wrist and allowed herself to be hauled upright. She licked very real blood from her lip and grinned, making Suvi feel sick as her dream remained forefront of her mind.

"It's Halloween!" Sara spread her arms wide dramatically.

"Oh no…" Lexi pressed one hand to her face and closed her eyes, having fully experienced the human festival before. She found the custom ridiculous.

"Really?" Cora asked, trying and failing to hide her excitement.

A witch began to cackle loudly over the speakers.

"SAM, cut the soundtrack," Lexi ordered and the spooky noises immediately cut out.

" _Apologies, Dr T'Perro. Sara insisted I help her set the scene_."

"I found this in the tech lab," Jaal held up another crudely made ghost in the form of torn up white fabric as he and Liam approached from the other end of the corridor. Suvi blushed as she remembered their appearances in her dream, and wished Sara had never mentioned the armour-swap to her.

"I'm telling you, it's like the prop department of a bad horror vid raided us," Liam said, turning his gaze to the group gathered outside Sara's room as Sara pointed wildly at him.

"Yes!" She cried. "Because it's Halloween! SAM said so!"

"What is…Hallo…een?" Jaal asked slowly, halting just in front of Sara.

"A human thing," Lexi explained.

"It's a festival!" Sara said excitedly. "With candy!"

"And costumes," Cora added.

"And horror vids!" Liam said eagerly.

" _Halloween is an ancient European festival, originally called Samhain and celebrated by the Celts millennia ago. They would wear costumes and light bonfires to ward off evil spirits. Samhain marked the end of Summer and the start of Winter, a time when, the ancient Celts believed, the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead grew thin and ghosts returned to Earth. Later, Christianity would adopt the day and name it All-Hallows. Samhain became All-Hallows-Eve, which eventually turned into Halloween and is now typically celebrated with dressing in costumes, carving pumpkins, and eating candy. It occurs annually on October 31st_ ," SAM said. " _Many different races and cultures have similar festivals."_

"I wish we had a pumpkin…" Liam said wistfully.

"We can make a snow pumpkin?" Sara suggested.

" _I would not recommend it_ ," SAM said. " _The storm has not yet passed. You would freeze to death in approximately four minutes_."

"Glad we nipped that in the bud," Lexi commented. "Sara, you're cleaning all this up." She gestured to their surroundings, the cobwebs and homemade decorations.

"Tomorrow?" Sara asked hopefully, and Lexi sighed. It wouldn't hurt to let the humans do their thing.

"Tomorrow," she agreed, and retreated to the relative safety of the medbay.

"So, how much stuff did you trash to pull this off?" Liam asked, grinning at Sara.

"Just…don't break anything and you won't need a spare," Sara gave an angelic smile.

"So, next stop Nexus for resupply?" Cora asked, arching one eyebrow.

"That will probably be best," Sara agreed, lacing her fingers behind her head and stretching out her spine. "Okay, so, scary movies tonight, guys! Get film food sorted. Liam, you're in charge of picking vids. Now, I need some sleep, I've been up all night."

"Yes, ma'am!" Liam saluted and darted off to rifle through his extensive vid collection. Cora folded her arms over her chest and looked at Sara with one eyebrow raised.

"Don't think you can slack off today," she said, her tone harsh but her eyes light and playful.

"Oh, come on, Cora, first you punch me, now I'm not allowed sleep?" Sara pouted at her.

"You punched her?" Jaal asked, staring from the small cut on Sara's lip to Cora, who shifted awkwardly and glanced down at her feet.

"She startled me…"

"Yeah, Jaal, piece of advice?" Sara said with a mischievous grin. "Don't ever make Cora jump. So not worth it."

"Noted," Jaal said. "So, all this is for Hallo Ween?" He asked, gesturing to their surroundings using his rag ghost.

"Yes! It's traditional to spookify things," Sara nodded excitedly.

"What is this?" He held up the rags.

"That's a ghost!" Sara informed him.

"A ghost?" Jaal turned it over to look at the little face that had been drawn on, the classic wide round eyes and gaping oval mouth. He didn't seem convinced. "A ghost of what?"

"A…I don't know…" Sara said, deflating somewhat. "That's just how they look in the cartoons."

Jaal grunted and looked up at her with a smile.

"I like it."

Sara beamed at him proudly. Suvi laughed and put her hands on Sara's shoulders, standing behind her.

"Come on, you need some sleep if you're expecting us all to marathon movies tonight," she said tenderly. Sara sniggered.

"You just wanna get me in bed…"

"Sara!" Suvi blushed bright red. "That's not what I-" she looked up at Cora and Jaal, shaking her head adamantly. "That's not what I meant!"

"We know," Cora said, barely concealing her amusement. "Sara, behave and go to bed. I'm sure we'll be needed once the storm is over. Outside comms are spotty but the outpost _has_ been trying to get through to us so we're expecting problems."

Sara heaved a melodramatic sigh.

"No rest for the wicked…"

"I'm saying nothing," Suvi muttered, steering Sara into the Pathfinder quarters.

"Have fun!" Cora called after them, voice definitely teasing, as the door slid shut.

"You can be such a pain," Suvi informed Sara, who gave her a cheesy grin as she made her way over to the bed.

"You love it!"

"No comment," Suvi said, but couldn't help a smile of her own as she followed Sara over to perch on the edge of the bed. Sara lay down, wearing her sweatpants and T-shirt from the night before.

"What's wrong?" Sara asked suddenly, reaching out to brush her fingers against Suvi's hand, where it rested on one knee. "Are you mad I made you jump?"

"What? No," Suvi frowned at her in confusion. "Why?"

"You seem…something," Sara looked concerned, having picked up on some problem she couldn't identify.

Suvi was baffled for a moment, then blushed as she realised exactly what it was Sara had picked up on.

"I had a…dream," she explained, embarrassed that it had affected her enough for someone to notice. Especially as that someone was Sara, queen of teasing.

"A scary one?" Sara asked sympathetically, taking her hand and lacing their fingers.

"I guess…" Suvi admitted. "More surreal with scary bits. You were a vampire and you bit me."

"Was I a sexy vampire?" Sara smirked.

"Sara!" Suvi mock-frowned at her, then rolled her eyes. "Yes. I suppose."

"Hah! So, why is that scary?"

"I don't know. It wasn't a sexy dream," Suvi said, thinking back to seeing Liam and Jaal mid-armour swap. " _Definitely_ not. Cora was blue."

Sara stared at her a moment and then started laughing, "what?!"

"You are so sympathetic…" Suvi said, grinning faintly as she lay down beside Sara.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Sara giggled, winding an arm around Suvi's waist to draw her closer and kissing her forehead. "I love your crazy mind."

Suvi smiled and nestled close for a moment, enjoying the warmth of Sara's embrace, but then her empty stomach made itself known with a loud rumble.

"Huh, I could have sworn SAM turned off the scary sound effects…" Sara commented.

"Ha, ha," Suvi remarked drily, freeing herself reluctantly from Sara's arms. "I should go eat, and you should sleep," she said, sitting up and swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. "I'll come and wake you for lunch, okay?" She looked over her shoulder to find Sara already burrowing under the covers so that just her eyes and the top of her head were visible.

"Okay," came Sara's voice, muffled by the covers. Suvi couldn't help ducking down and pressing her lips to the top of Sara's head.

"Sleep well," she said, finally standing up and locating her clothes, and leaving the room to take a shower and eat.

* * *

As promised, Suvi returned at around 1pm Tempest time, holding two steaming mugs of soup for Sara and herself. She had been wondering if she would need to wake Sara, and if she had needed to, could she bring herself to disturb her? But as she entered the Pathfinder quarters Sara sat up in bed, hair tousled from her sleep but eyes bright and alert.

"Good timing!" She said, grinning at Suvi as she tugged the tie out of her hair and combed her fingers through the mess. "I just woke up."

"Ah, so, then, I'm guessing you're hungry?" Suvi asked.

"Always," Sara replied, and that much was true. Sara seemed to be continuously hungry, probably due to her high energy, zooming around everywhere.

Suvi sat cross-legged beside her on the bed and held out one of the mugs, which Sara took and looked into curiously.

"The packet said 'chicken noddle soup'," she explained.

"Someday soon we'll get _real_ food and it will be glorious," Sara said, lifting the mug and having a generous mouthful before Suvi could warn her not to. She swallowed audibly and then let her mouth drop open, sticking out her tongue and waving one hand in front of her face. "Ow, hot!"

"Yes, I just made it," Suvi told her, having left her own mug to cool on the nightstand.

"Never mind," Sara said, resting her mug on one knee and holding it with one hand as she fixed Suvi with an almost worried look. "SAM tells me the storm cleared…?"

"Yes!" Suvi nodded her head eagerly, knowing exactly what the question was behind Sara's words. "The outpost did try to make contact during it, but only to check on us. They got through about an hour ago. They've offered to come and dig out the area around the landing ramp. We're actually a little bit buried."

Sara paused. "Define 'little bit'..."

"Well, a lot," Suvi admitted. "But it's fine. We can leave the Tempest, and everyone's working on clearing snow around us and around the outpost. Nobody got hurt and the only damage was minor. Some solar panels that can easily be fixed."

"That's great! So, movie night is still on?"

Suvi laughed and rolled her eyes. "Yes. Liam has enough horror vids in his library to keep us going until morning, and Vetra's sourced some illegal popcorn from her stash."

"Gotta love black market popcorn," Sara sniggered as she lifted her mug to her lips and sipped at her soup. Finding it sufficiently cooled she gulped the lot down.

"You'll make yourself sick…" Suvi warned, watching as Sara swallowed hard and started chewing on her mouthful of noodles and chicken.

"'m fine," Sara managed to say, climbing out of bed and leaving her mug magnetically attached by the base to the wall of her room as she made her way over to her desk chair, where she had left cargoes, shirt, and hoody the day before. She swallowed again before saying, "I should head out and help. Are the others out there?"

"Liam, Drack, and Cora are doing the heavy lifting. Jaal, Vetra and Gil are going over the tech to make sure everything's okay, and Kallo and myself are monitoring the weather conditions from our sensors and other outpost feeds. There _is_ another storm heading this way but it's unlikely to hit us. We might end up with slightly stronger winds and maybe some snowfall, but that's it," Suvi rattled off.

Sara nodded as she wriggled into her cargoes. "Good to know. I'll find Priya and get an update on the outpost."

* * *

Priya Blake, captain of the Initiative outpost Taerve Uni on Voeld, was more than happy to accept Sara's help after briefing her on the situation post-storm (in short, the roads needed to be dug out and doorways cleared of snow). Her suits heating system, the hard work, and the heat lamps provided kept her warm, but Sara was soon craving a hot shower and a steaming mug of coffee as she felt her digits begin to ache.

At some point, it began to snow again, tiny flecks of white that whipped through the orange glow of heat lamps like fireflies. Not enough to worry about. The sun began to set, the grey sky darkening as shadows deepened and the temperature plummeted.

Sara returned her borrowed equipment to the outpost storage unit and headed back towards her ship feeling cold and tired but looking forwards to hot food and a movie marathon.

The others had returned long before Sara. Suvi made her way to the loading bay as soon as SAM mentioned the Pathfinder was on her way back, and arrived just in time to see Sara climbing the icy ramp back into the warmth of the ship. Cold wind gusted inside and made her shiver, but then the bay doors closed and sealed the Tempest against the frigid temperatures outside.

Ice crystals glittered across the entirety of Sara's dark blue armour and she stamped her feet to get rid of the snow that had clumped in the treads of her boots and caked her armour up to her knees.

"I helped Liam put his sofa in your room," Suvi said as Sara unfastened her helmet and pulled it off. "For the movie marathon."

"Flex them muscles!" She teased and threw an arm around the redhead, but Suvi darted away with a startled gasp as she came into contact with the frozen plates of her armour.

"Cold!" She yelped.

"Sorry!"

"Don't come near me until you've taken that off," Suvi gestured to the armour with one finger, keeping herself at arms length. Already the frost was turning into droplets of water as the warm air of the Tempest thawed it.

"Save it for the bedroom," Vetra commented as she brushed passed them.

"Or not!" Liam called down from the deck above, leaning over the railing to grin at them. "We're watching movies in there!"

"Oh my God," Suvi mumbled, covering her face with one hand in embarrassment.

"I'm gonna go shower," Sara announced, and Suvi glanced up in time to catch the sloped grin sent her way.

"I'm going to…calibrate the…thing," she said and hurried away, feeling her cheeks burn.

* * *

"Tonight," Liam told the group gathered before him on the sofa and on cushions on the floor, "is the night of terrors aboard the Tempest!" He raised one hand into the air and the lights in Sara's room flicked off, plunging them into near total darkness, most likely courtesy of SAM. Liam was now illuminated from behind by the ghostly blue light of the holovid projector showing a blank slide. "We go on an epic journey following a mysterious plague on Earth, a ruthless psycho killer on Thessia, zombies in space, monsters, madmen, ghosts-"

"Just play the damn movie!" Vetra interrupted him.

"No appreciation for theatre," Liam rolled his eyes and swiped a finger over his omni-tool. The first movie he had cued began to play as he crossed the room and sat on the floor at Peebee's feet.

Suvi grabbed Sara's arm and pulled it around her shoulders, shuffling as close as possible to her on the end of the sofa. Sara blinked in surprise as she was almost pushed into Cora, sitting on her other side.

"Suvi, the title hasn't even come up yet," she whispered.

"I don't like horror vids," Suvi whispered back, jumping as the title finally did show up, accompanied by an unnecessarily loud piano chord.

"Why didn't you say?" Sara hissed.

"Shhhh!" Cora scolded them. Sara arched an eyebrow at her, then turned back to Suvi who looked up at her and shrugged.

"You were all so excited…" She explained. "Don't worry, I'll be okay."

* * *

Several tense movies later Suvi pulled a face, turned away and buried her face in Sara's shoulder to block out the disgusting images before her. But she could still hear the screaming and the sawing and the-

"This is just gratuitous violence…" She grumbled.

"What do you expect from a krogan-made horror vid?" Cora asked, wrinkling her nose at the grisly scene, and finding herself unable to look away. She had a handful of popcorn halfway to her mouth but had seemingly forgotten about it.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Drack asked, leaning forwards to look at her from the other end of the sofa as he sensed a potential insult but was unable to find it.

"What do you think?" Cora replied meeting his gaze playfully. She finally remembered the popcorn and tossed it into her mouth.

Drack gave her a wide grin that showed his fangs and turned back to the movie.

"This is a classic," Liam said, holding out one hand to the projection. "And you don't get many krogan films."

"This is basically torture porn," Vetra agreed with Suvi.

"It's not very pleasant," Jaal admitted. "The killer is disturbingly creative."

"Would you like to skip it?" Liam asked, already calling up his omni-tool.

"No, come on…" Gil protested from his place on the floor beside Liam.

"Ah, someone appreciates fine horror!" Liam said gleefully. "Anyone else 'for'?" He craned his neck to look at the others.

"I don't mind," Suvi said.

"Sara can keep you occupied," Peebee teased.

Suvi blushed, but thankfully it was hidden by the darkness. She could, however, see enough in the gloom to see Sara was grinning at her as the glow from Liam's omni-tool disappeared and he settled back to watch the movie.

"I prefer the monster movies," she said quietly to Sara.

"Like vampire movies?" Sara smirked.

"Sara!"

Sara sniggered and fell silent a moment to watch the movie, then glanced down at Suvi again, thinking about what the redhead had told her earlier about her dream. "If I was going to live forever with anyone, it'd be you."

"That's so sweet…" Suvi said, feeling her heart melt at the genuine look in Sara's eyes. She rubbed her hand against Sara's stomach and smiled fondly.

"I can be, sometimes, ya know?" Sara said.

"You two are sickening," Gil told them bluntly.

"I thought you were watching the gross movie?" Sara asked.

"I was," he insisted, "but all I can hear is you two whispering at each other!"

"It's almost finished anyway," Liam said. "Then I'll put on something more tame, but I warn you," he added gleefully, "it's meant to be the most terrifying vid of all time…"

* * *

Liam had not been lying. The crew sat in rapt silence throughout, stirring only when the movie startled them. Vetra began to get twitchy and leaped to her feet in alarm when Cora reached for more popcorn, much to the amusement of everyone else.

Suvi was slowly crushing Sara's fingers, her grip tightening with each scare. Sara winced as she heard her knuckles pop loudly.

"Sorry…" Suvi breathed, pressed firmly into Sara's side.

"No problem," Sara replied, giving her a comforting squeeze with the arm that had been wrapped around her since they sat down together.

With all the horror the crew had witnessed in the past, Sara was surprised that simple movies could still scare any of them. But then, Liam had chosen some good ones with slow building tension and plenty of jump-scares that had them all on edge.

Gil let out a low whistle in appreciation as the end credits rolled.

"Well," Peebee said, "I'm never sleeping again."

"You're all a bunch of pansies," Drack rumbled. He had been sat statuesque between Peebee and Lexi all night, apparently unfazed by any of the movies.

"Don't even try to pretend you weren't holding Lexi's hand, I saw you!" Vetra accused him.

"She started it!" He growled.

"There is no shame in fear," Jaal told them. "I, myself, am terrified."

"Well, you look very composed," Kallo said from the floor by Cora's feet. His wide black eyes were somehow wider than usual.

"And that's why I saved my favourite for last," Liam chuckled. "It's a spoof cunningly disguised as a horror. It's funny and spooky!"

"Play it," Drack ordered.

* * *

"Everyone's asleep," Suvi said softly.

Sara glanced around herself to see that Suvi was correct. The crew sat, leaned, and lay in various positions, sleeping or dozing. Drack was even snoring quietly, head tipped against the sofa back. The projector had been stuck on the same blank frame for hours now, with no movies left in the playlist.

The room was gradually lightening as the sun began to rise outside, shining weakly through the fogged windows of the Pathfinder Quarters.

"I guess it's not Halloween any more…" Sara murmured, looking away from the windows to meet Suvi's eyes.

"Depends what time it is on Earth…" Suvi said with a slow smile. "We could ask SAM?"

Sara stifled a laugh so she didn't wake the others.

"No, let's leave it. We don't need to know."

"I liked Halloween," Suvi said after a moments silence.

"You liked my decorations?" Sara asked with a grin. She would have to clean that up later today.

"They were fun. And the movies," Suvi smiled. "It was nice, everyone all together."

"Want to do it again next year?" Sara asked.

Suvi grinned at her. It would be nice to have a tradition with her friends and colleagues, and Halloween was always fun. And maybe Jaal could show them the angaran equivalent if they had one. He hadn't mentioned anything, so she made a mental note to ask later.

"Oh yes," she said to Sara.

Annual Halloween shenanigans was something she could get behind.

* * *

 **A/N: So this was rushed to get it up as close to Halloween as possible XD If you liked it, let me know!**


End file.
